Girl prisoner's 'torturous death'

By Simon Kirby and Ben Cubby

22 November 2007 — 11:00am

CHILD protection authorities continually failed to act on long-held concerns that Shellay Ward's parents kept her as a prisoner in the filthy room where she "died a slow and torturous death", a court heard yesterday.

In the six months leading to November 3, when seven-year-old Shellay was found dead in her bedroom, weighing only nine kilograms, case workers from the Department of Community Services and the Department of Housing had visited the Ward household six times without managing to see the children they were supposed to be checking on.

In April, a Housing Department officer reported suspicions that "children may be being kept locked up" at the Wards' Matraville home.

Advertisement

And as far back as 1994, DOCS had concerns for other children in the care of Blakeley Ward, 46, and Sharyn Ward, 37. The couple appeared in a Wollongong court via video link-up yesterday on charges of murdering Shellay.

A DOCS assessment from 13 years ago said: "The parents' emotional state threatens the children's safety. The children's behaviour to self/others indicates abuse." It concluded that harm was considered to be "ongoing and extremely serious".

In chilling detail, the court heard of the grim scene that awaited emergency workers when they prised open the door of Shellay's room in the couple's new home at Hawks Nest, north of Newcastle. Her tiny, wasted body was on a mattress in the room strewn with rubbish and faeces.

A police statement released by the court said she had died "a slow and torturous death".

"The room had little effects and was littered with faeces. [The girl] was wearing some items of bed clothing and three pairs of socks, which has been on for an extended period of time, causing her skin to waste away," the documents said. "Her body was fouled with stale urine."

An autopsy by the forensic pathologist Dr Kasinathan Nadesan found the girl's muscles were so wasted that rigor mortis was absent, that her "eyeballs had lost pressure and sunk" and that the bones of her rib cage stood out.

An internal examination showed her stomach contained nothing but 20 millilitres of dark liquid. Her bowel was devoid of fat, the doctor noted. The autopsy revealed no physical injury or natural disease.

"Dr Kasinathan Nadesan concluded that the death is very likely due to chronic malnutrition and neglect," the documents stated.

The Wards told police Shellay had been watching television with them the night before her death. She had eaten dinner and appeared healthy. "Blakeley Ward and Sharyn Ward's evidence of the child being well-nourished, cared for and well-fed is clearly untruthful," the documents state.

They record that a tradesman who visited the Wards' Hawks Nest home in September noticed one of the bedroom doors was securely roped shut. "Blakeley Ward told him, 'I have an autistic child who is in the room asleep,' " the documents state.

A spokeswoman for the Minister for Community Services, Kevin Greene, said he was unable to comment on the case because it was before the court. Shellay's death is being examined by the

ombudsman, she said. The Opposition wants a royal commission into DOCS.

"It's sickening," said the Opposition' spokeswoman, Katrina Hodgkinson. "Anyone with children in this state will be asking how this could possibly happen.

Documents presented to court said workers from DOCS and Housing visited the Ward household on March 30, April 10, April 13, April 17, June 16 and June 27 this year - never managing to see the children. The couple had regularly said they were moving interstate and refused to let them see the children.

The Department of Education was considering prosecuting the Wards for failing to send Shellay to school. The police documents said: "At the time of her death, Shellay was isolated from all forms of assistance and care and was a prisoner inside her bedroom. Her death was clearly caused through the omission of basic care, nourishment and medical attention and with foresight it was clearly probable that such omissions would result in her death."

The couple did not apply for bail and it was formally refused by magistrate Paul Johnson, who remanded them in custody to appear in Newcastle Local Court on January 16.